A 365 Project- Take 2: 2013

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As I mentioned a few posts ago, something I am changing on this blog from what I did last year is that not every quote is going to be from a book. Instead I want to use quotes and sayings that speak to me, instead of searching for a quote. Most of the quotes here will still be from books, but I like the idea of being able to share quotes from anywhere. To kick off using quotes from music, today instead of a quote, I decided to share a poem I wrote in one of my classes last year where we were learning to teach poetry.

It is called a found poem. For those who don’t know what a found poem is, it is pretty much using words that already exist, and creating a poem out of them. Such as having an article and highlighting a few lines or words that stand out to you, and creating a poem that way.

What I did was more of an Ipod shuffle. I turned my Ipod on, and wrote the first line of every song that played for a while. I then rearranged them in a way I thought made sense. I enjoyed the way it turned out. How so many different lines, from different songs, from different artist, from different genres, seemed to find a way to fit together, even if it doesn’t fit perfectly 🙂

I think it is a good example of life. We are all a different song lyric. We follow life by our own tune. Sometimes we come across other lyrics that when we try to blend together we create the sound of a dying cat. But when we find the right lyrics, we can make some pretty decent harmonies 😉

~Elizabeth

PS Excuse the bad music metaphor and ramblings, still fighting the flu and I blame the meds 😉

At times in our lives, there comes a point when we realize that the path we are meant to travel, isn’t always the same as the people in our lives. As we grow, we change, and where are life is heading isn’t always going to lead us to the same place as the people we may have once thought it would. Depending on the time in my life, I have had various close friends. People who for a time were always there. But as we grew, as we began and ended school. As we moved away, or stayed in place. As we held jobs and careers. As some people got married and had children, what brought us together changed.

Each of those friends were important to me at that time, and still hold a place in my heart because they were apart of my life for a certain period of my life. Over the years I have lost touch with many people, or they have become facebook friends that occasionally like my status. But that doesn’t change the fact that we were once great friends. All it means is that eventually, we each reach a road and have to take our own path.

Sometimes we are able to keep connected with others and even though our paths are not the exact same, they are intertwined. I have had the same best friends for many years even though we each live in a different state and are at different areas of our lives. That is how I know they are my best friends. We may not walk the same road, but we walk together.

“Nothing of me is original. I am the combined effort of everyone I’ve ever known.”

Each and every person that has entered my life has contributed to the person I have become. I often feel like a chameleon. I find that I pick up so much from the people in my life. Even my accent and word choices change depending on people I am hanging out with. The experiences I have had with the people I have known have truly shaped me for better or worse.

“You may never have proof of your importance but you are more important than you think. There are always those who couldn’t do without you. The rub is that you don’t always know who.”

I recently became a Kindergarten teacher, so this book spoke to me on a whole new level!

While there were a ton of quotes I liked from this book, this one especially spoke to me.

I think it is powerful enough to not need an explanation, and I felt any words I tried didn’t capture it the way I wanted to.

You may never know how important you were to someone. There have been many people over the years that have shaped much of who I have become, but I can guarantee they have no idea. I do think it is important to be aware of the possible impact you may have on those around you. And since you never know who you may see you as being an important influence, try to be there for everyone around you 🙂

Sometimes I believe the only way I get through much of life, is to laugh through it. In my saddest, darkest moments, if I find a way to laugh, I can feel the hurt disappear. If I fuel my pain with more pain, I feel as if I am sinking further into the hurt. But if I surround myself with things that make me laugh, I know I will be ok. I think this is also why my defense mechanism when others are hurt is to try to make them laugh (even if it is at me!)

As long as I continue to let myself laugh and smile, I believe I will be able to get through all the pain and hurt life has to offer.

I have been reading Susan Elizabeth Phillips for over 10 years. While I enjoy romance in a book, I rarely read actual romance novels. But I have read all of her books (and reread most of them). She has a way of making her characters real and easy to connect to. I was recently rereading ‘What I Did For Love’ and came across this quote. It really connected with me.

I think one of the hardest things is to be happy with who you are. We make excuses, and look for solutions to make us happy. People to make us happy, things to make us happy…and then we wonder why we can’t be happy. No one, no place, and nothing can MAKE us happy. The only person that can truly make us happy, is ourselves. We can surround ourselves with people and things to help us be happy, but in the end we have to look within ourselves to be happy. If we aren’t happy, we have to ask why and make the changes until we are.